Richard Branson shows how to sell biodiversity

In this post on the Virgin site savvy marketer Richard Branson outlines what is probably an effective way to reach the masses with the concept of biodiversityYou hold a cute animal, talk about the sadness of its loss, then say it’s safe to give and care about the country (in this case, Madagascar) because the next elections will be free and fair, and wind up by saying biodiversity is ALSO good for people. No irony there; there are many more lemur lovers with many more dollars than there are people who take action to care about poor people. There is also a documentary video

Pitches about biodiversity probably need that charismatic fauna appeal to get people to pay attention. Crises and now, with biodiversity as the goal, opportunities focusing on primates and megafauna (rhinos, elephants, lions, etc.) have proven to be effective to get people to take action. Virgin’s autopopulated pinterest tagline says “biodiversity is vital to development.” Which also brings in business utility.

The post also mentions the upside of ecotourism, which Branson’s airline is obviously in favor of. The pattern of the pitch, from cute animal, to trusted place to give to (part of the Victorian need to only give to the “deserving poor)”, followed by the payoff for the people and closing with the upside for the local people and ecosystem of ecotourism is one that I think could work as a template for other places.

And the hidden message, encapsulated in every pinterest picture from the site, that biodiversity is good for development, is probably situated in the right place within the story’s frame.